Twitch Syndrome
by Dragon Raptyr
Summary: It was supposed to be a normal day. A normal adventure. It was anything but. Inspired by TPP
1. Setting Out

If you've been on the internet, chances are you've heard of, or helped play, Twitch plays Pokémon. Like so many others, I became fascinated by the story that they created. This is my interpretation of that story. I'm trying to set it in universe, and come up with reasonable explanations for things. If you have any ideas or feedback on these ideas, I'd like to hear them.

I apologize for the hard-to-read quality of the voices. They're hard to get right.

Important Notes:

_This is Red thinking_

"This is normal speech."

[Andthesearethevoices.]

In regards to A, B, and Start commands: A is Yes, and B is No. I don't have an in-universe counterpart for start yet. Ideas would be nice.

I don't own Pokémon, or Twitch Plays Pokémon.

* * *

_Can't believe I'm ten already._

Red tapped his feet against the bed excitedly. Tomorrow he would set out on his journey, and finally become a pokémon trainer. The morning was hours away, but he was still finding it hard to sleep.

"Red?" His mom called up the stairs. "Can you stop making so much noise? I can hear you from down here! You've got to get some sleep!"

"Sure!" Red called back. Quickly, he changed into his pyjamas and hopped into bed. Snuggling into the sheets, he grinned. _One more day._

* * *

Outside the house, a figure peered up at the window as the lights went out. They stepped out of the shadows, covered from head to toe in baggy black clothes, a gas mask over their head. "Finally." They muttered. "I thought they would never get to sleep." Grabbing a bag from the bushes, they walked up to the door, shaking on the handle.

The figure gave a snort as the door swung inwards. "Can't believe it was unlocked." Silently, the figure made their way upstairs, stepping carefully to make no sound.

They opened the door to Red's room, looking at the boy asleep there.

Bingo.

Kneeling by the side of the bed, they pulled out a syringe filled with clear fluid. Carefully, they took Red's arm, injecting the liquid. Red twitched as the needle slid under his skin, but didn't wake up. The figure waited a few moments before nodding.

"That should keep him under until morning."

They slid a small tin out from the bag, as well as a shard of black stone about two inches long, and one wide. The stone shard seemed to throb and pulse angrily in the figure's hand. "Now, now. Enough of that." The figure soothed. "You'll have a new toy to play with in just a moment."

They opened the box, pulling out a scalpel. Rolling Red onto his back, they made an incision in the center of his chest. Carefully, they put the shard into the cut, wiping away the blood. Holding the stone in place, they sprayed a potion around the site, watching as the boy's flesh closed around the shard, healing without a scar.

The figure put away their tools, checking to make sure there was no trace of their presence besides the lump of stone sitting innocently in Red's chest. Satisfied, they stood and gave a mocking salute. "Have fun, little one. We'll be watching you."

They disappeared as silently as they had come.

* * *

[Up. Get Up. Upupupupup.]

Red groaned as he sat up in bed rubbing his eyes tiredly. His head was throbbing, and it sounded like a hundred people were screaming in his ears at the exact same time.

[Wakeupdresseatdressgetreadygo. Gogogogogo. Time to Go.]

Red froze. That was… that was really a voice. Looking around, he couldn't see anyone nearby who could have said it. Telepathy, maybe? Some Pokemon and people were said to be telepathic, after all.

[UP.] The voice screamed, this time joined by a dozen more. Red jerked, falling to the floor as his body automatically obeyed. "Ow."

[Standupupup.] The voices commanded. Carefully, Red stood up. Once he was sure that he wasn't going to fall again, he gave a sigh of relief. [Dress.] _I know that_.

[Updownleftleftup.] The voices weren't working together, it seemed, as each one gave Red a different command of how to get to his dresser. Red twitched as they all started yelling directions at the same time, forcing him to try every single one.

It took him ten minute before the chaos got them the ten steps to his dresser. Grabbing the drawers, he pulled out his clothes and clumsily changed into them, the voices yelling in his head every step of the way.

As he pulled on his shirt, his fingers touched what felt like a jagged piece of stone in the middle of his chest.

The voices stilled for a moment. [Us.] they declared, almost proud. [UsmeIyouhimherweallofusususus.]

Red closed his eyes for a moment. Not telepathy, then, he thought, fingers shaking as they traced the stone. They were somehow, in the stone. In him.

The voices didn't respond to that. Instead, his legs moved on their own, obeying the voices and their commands once more. [Upleftdownrightrightupleft]

Red stuck out his arms, catching himself before he could run into a wall. Staggering downstairs, he managed to grab a sitrus before the voices dragged him hapelessly onwards.

There was no order to the voices, he noticed as he wolfed down the berry. They each had their own ideas about what to do. _I have to get to the Professor's lab_.

[downuprighdownuprightleftupupuprightdownupleftup] Red waved sheepishly to some of the other residents of Pallet Town as he walked in circles, trying to get to the lab. Several times, he ended up walking into houses and yards, smacking into fences and trees.

He neared the lab, much to his relief and the excitement of the voices. A wrong step, however, sent him not towards the door of the lab, but the long uncut grass beside it.

"What are you doing?" Professor Oak grabbed him, hauling him back before he could step in. "Are you crazy, Red? How many times have I told you, if you don't have a pokémon, don't go in the grass!"

"S-sorry." Red stuttered. "Wa-w-wasn't m-me."

"Not you?" Professor Oak asked skeptically. "You're the only one here."

Red shook his head wordlessly, and pulled down his collar so that the Professor could see the stone shard. "The-there's things i-inside."

Oak looked alarmed at the stone. "That is, in a word, disturbing" he said. Grabbing Red's hand, he led the boy into the lab. "Sit down, Red. I'll take a look at that."

"W-what is it?"

"I'm not one hundred percent certain." The professor replied. "But it looks like a keystone."

"H-huh?"

The professor knelt down in front of Red, a small hammer in hand. "A keystone is the anchor for a pokémon from Sinnoh called Spiritomb. Spiritomb are ghost types, but instead of being a single ghost, there's a hundred and eight of them, all packed together.

[yesyesyesyesuprightno]

"I th-think they say th-that's right."

"Hrm." Professor Oak tapped on the keystone thoughtfully with the hammer, watching as purple sparks danced around it. "Do you know how this happened?"

"N-no." Red shook his head. "W-wasn't there last night." He shrugged helplessly. "C-can you f-fix it?"

"I'm sorry, Red." Professor Oak shook his head sadly. "The purple sparks mean that I'll get zapped if I try to take it out. I'm also not a doctor."

Red looked down at the floor. "O-oh." This was not how he envisioned his journey. He'd thought this would just be the first step, not learning that he had a malevolent pokémon permanently possessing him.

"Grandpa? Red? You in here?"

Red's best friend Blue pushed open the door to the lab. He blinked in confusion at the sight of his Grandpa holding a hammer and Red sitting on a chair, his shirt pulled up. "Do I want to know what's going on here?"

Red frowned, pulling his shirt down. "P-possessed. H-he's helping. Y-you okay?"

"I'm fine" Blue waved his hand nonchalantly. "What do you mean by possessed?"

Professor Oak shrugged. "Somehow, Red had a keystone from a Spiritomb embedded in his chest, effectively allowing him to be possessed by it. It attacks anyone who tries to touch it but Red."

"Does that mean that Red won't be going on his journey?" Asked Blue. "I was really looking forward to competing with him."

Professor Oak nodded. "It's looking that way. I need to see if there's anything I can do to help, and it's not a good idea for Red to wander off."

.

For once, Red agreed with the spiritomb. Everyone was deciding his future except him. And there was no way that he was going to let them decide his future.

"I w-want to go." Red spoke up. He balled up his shaking fingers, tucking them tightly against his sides. "I-I know it's d-dangerous, b-but I want to go. I w-want to d-decide for mys-self."

Blue shook his head. "No way! You've got an evil pokémon possessing you! If you go out, you'll get yourself killed!"

[helphelphelpwin. Wanttowin. Helpyouwinworktogetherhelpyouwin.]

"Th-they aren't evil. A-and they want t-to help." Red stammered forcefully. "I-I can do this. P-please, Professor. I-I want to go."

Professor Oak sighed. "I really don't think that it's a good idea."

"Th-they attack anyone w-who t-touches the s-stone, right?" _What about anyone who tries to hurt me?_

[yesyesyes. .]

Red took a deep breath. "Th-they say that i-if I'm hurt, they w-will be too. S-so they'll protect me."

Blue frowned. "I don't know." Stepping up to Red, he punched the boy in the gut. Purple sparks surrounded Red for a moment, before leaping angrily at Blue. Blue gave a hiss, falling to his knees and rubbing his fist.

Red hunched over, clutching his stomach. "T-that hurt!" He glared at Blue. "Wh-why'd you do that?"

Blue shook his hand, opening and closing his hand a few times. "I was calling their bluff, making sure they really would." He winced, tucking his hand into his pocket. "Looks like they were telling the truth. But that doesn't mean that there aren't other problems. What about things like cars, or cliffs, or even water? You could still drown."

Red sighed. Blue had a point. Even if the spiritomb could protect him from people, there were still other problems. Other challenges. "…"

"I don't think those will be as big of a problem, Blue." Professor Oak noted. "If Red does go, he'll have a pokémon with him at all times. Even with the danger, it won't be hard to call out a pokémon before that happens."

"And if they faint?"

[rulesarerule. Allfaintwefaint.]

"I-if the others faint, the s-spiritomb will too."

"Which would give you the necessary co-ordination to get to safety. But the wild pokémon…"

[stillgethurt] "Still get hurt." Red and the spiritomb chorused together, their voices overlapping.

Blue shook his head. "Okay, I heard that. That's kind of creepy."

Professor Oak nodded to himself. "If that's what they're willing to do, then it should be okay for you to go. Just let me take some measurements first, so that I can see if there's a way to separate you safely."

Red nodded. He was going to get to go on his journey after all! Blue still looked skeptical, but it didn't matter. He was going to do his very best no matter what.

Professor Oak took whatever measurements he needed fairly quickly, before bringing out the Pokeballs, as well as two small red devices. "These are pokedexes, my latest project. If you catch a pokémon, it will record some useful data on that pokémon." He passed them to Red and Blue. "Now Red, pick your pokémon."

Red reached out, calling out a female charmander. "Th-this one."

Oak nodded. "You can use the keypad on your pokedex to enter a nickname, if you want to."

Red opened the pokedex. His fingers shook, typing in a string of gibberish and the 'enter' button. Blue looked over from where he was entering a nickname for a squirtle, and snorted at the sight of the nickname. "Ay bee bee bee bee bee bee kay parentheses? Um, isn't that a bit of a mouthful?"

Red shrugged. "S-she can be Abby. Rename L-later."

Blue shrugged, and pulled Red outside. "Whatever. Let's see how good you can battle. That's important too. You can't just rely on Spiritomb, after all."

Red nodded. "O-okay."

[battlebattlebattle!]

Red winced, rubbing his head. Blue paused, looking at his friend. "Are you alright?"

Red nodded, sending out Abby. Blue did the same, and his squirtle took the opposite side of the field.

Red looked at his pokedex, noting the scratch and growl. _Scratch would be best._

[scratchgrowlgrowlgrowlscratchgrowlscratch] The spiritomb pitched in its many varied thoughts on the idea, and Red was surprised when instead of saying scratch, the command that he gave was instead "Growl!"

Abby did as she was told, trying to ignore squirtle and its leer. Red frowned. So the spiritomb could hijack his voice, and not just his body. He should have guessed when they'd spoken in unison earlier, but now, it made battling a guessing game, with no real way to tell what move was going to be used.

Abby only had two moves, and fortunately, the next was the much more useful "Scratch". A couple more random scratches and growls, and squirtle was down for the count.

Blue recalled squirtle, looking at Red in surprise. "I was holding back to be on the safe side, but it looks like I didn't need to." He grinned. "Good job Red!"

Red grinned sheepishly. "I-it was r-really r-random." He scratched his head nervously. "S-spiritomb wanted to h-help. I-I didn't know wh-what was going to happen."

Blue looked incredulous. "That's some luck!" Sighing, the other boy turned and looked at the road. "Looks like our journey starts here, eh Red? I'll see you around sometime." Blue walked off, leaving Red to stand happily at the start of his journey.

[updownleftrightyesnorightnoupyesright] Spiritomb clamoured in his mind, conflicting ideas and commands. Red gave a sigh as his legs started moving of their own accord once more, sending him who knows where.

* * *

Oh, it starts easily enough. Just wait, Red. Just wait.


	2. Routine 2

_Chapter 2 everyone! Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm glad that Spiritomb's voices weren't too confusing. I still apologize for them, though._

_This chapter is mostly filler, mainly because the early days weren't categorized, so I have to make some stuff up to fill in the gaps. In regards to Blue: I did manage to find a reason for him to antagonize his best friend. He's a 10 year old kid who's best friend is possessed by a bunch of spirits, and the grownups aren't helping. He just wants his friend to go home and be safe._

_A few new terms in regard to the commands: Stop = start (thanks to the reviewer who suggested it.) and Grab (this is A in relation to the bag and items use, whereas Yes is A in relations to people talking and some field interaction.)_

_In regards to some of the nicknames: I said that I wanted it to be completely in universe, and three of the main characters (Pidgeot, Ratatta, and Nidoking) all derive their nicknames from individuals in this universe. I'd like to use as much of the original nickname as possible, or even some of the more uncommon ones. Right now, the ones that I have picked out are Saver (Pidgeot), Jay (Rattata) and Moonking (Nidoking) Feedback or other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Just remember, no real life references, and try to keep them reasonably close to the original nicknames._

* * *

The pokeball rustled in the grass, closing with a resounding click around the pidgey. Red breathed a sigh of relief, and glanced over at Abby. The young charmander shuddered as the poison from a weedle's sting earlier sapped away at a bit more of her health.

"A-abby, are you o-okay?" he asked, kneeling down next to her. "Y-you should get some r-rest." He fumbled for her pokeball, trying to ignore spiritomb and its constant chanting of commands. The pokeball didn't help, not really. Sure, Abby didn't get hurt, but she still took damage from the poison. He picked up Pidgey's pokeball, which had been lying in the grass nearby.

His fingers fumbled over the screen, entering in another line of gibberish. _AAABAAAJSS? I'm lost here. I have no idea how I'm supposed to pronounce this one._

Stretching as much as he could, he glanced out at the rest of Route two. The other trainers who'd been wandering around, and in some cases, battled him, were starting to pack up as the sun sank beneath the horizon. Spiritomb chattered with itself, trying to decide if it was better to attempt Viridian forest with two nearly unconscious pokémon, or fight with the ledge next to the pokémon centre and heal.

_It's nearly nighttime._ He told them, absently sticking out a hand to deflect himself away from a tree. _I need food and sleep, and so do Abby and Pidgey. Just call it a night already._ A weedle sprang out of the grass at him, and he and Abby managed to beat it fairly quickly. _If you don't, we're going to end up knocking everyone out._

Spiritomb ignored him, instead opting to kick around in the grass and scare out some more pokémon to battle. Abby's pokeball gave a low buzz as she finally fainted from the poison. _You do know that there's just Pidgey now, right?_

[updownleftrightyesupstomrightleftupstopright] it argued with itself, sending pidgey and spearow flying. _Are you even listening to me?_

[upleftyestryingdownrightnonoteveryoneupuprightdownleftmaybe.] It replied. [lotsinhereupupuprightupnodownyes. Upleftjustupstoponeofrightrightstopdownthevoices.]

It made sense, Red supposed. With all of the voices, his was just one of them. When he was the new voice, it was easier to hear him, but the longer that they were exposed to him, the more his voice faded away. _Does this mean that the longer this goes on, the less control I'm going to have over my body?_ He asked it silently.

[upleftyesstopnonoupuprightprobably.]

_Great. So what about eating, and sleeping, or other important stuff? How are you going to make sure that we don't get killed from something like that? I'm still human, after all. Not a ghost._

[downdownuprightdunnohowarewegoingtodealwiththisIdon'tknowwhataboutwhenwefaintthatcouldworknothatsabadideadoyouhaveabetteroneguysletsjustfaintandgetbacktothecentrethatwaythenwedonthavetodealwiththeledgeagainthenRedcaneatandstufffineletsseeifwecanfindmorepokemon.]

The spiritomb burst into a flurry of conversations, the most that Red had ever heard them discuss at one time. _So your plan is to run around until everyone faints, let me eat and sleep and stuff, and then when we heal in the morning, you'll have control again?_ [Yeahupuprightstopyesprettymuchstopnonoupupupgrabnoitshouldwork.]

_Fine. Let's get this over with._

* * *

Red headed to the trainer's cafeteria, grabbing a tray and loading it up with food, both for himself, and for Abby and Pidgey.

"Red?" Red turned around. Blue was sitting at a table, squirtle eating happily beside him. "Over here!"

Grinning, Red walked over to the table, sitting across from his old friend. "Hey Blue. You still hanging around here with us plebians?"

Blue brushed his hair out of his eyes. "I decided to train here for a couple of days before heading through the forest. I don't want to be caught by surprise, after all." He blinked, tilting his head in curiosity. "You didn't stutter." The other trainer noted. "Does that mean…"

Red shook his head. "Remember when they said that they had to play by the rules? We haven't healed yet, mainly because it lets us get something to eat and some shuteye." He called out a sleepy Abby at Pidgey, who yawned and started eating slowly. Red gulped down a few bites, watching as Blue frowned.

"Is that really the best solution?" Blue stroked squirtle's shell absently. "I mean, just look at your pokémon."

Red shook his head. Swallowing, he licked his lips. "It isn't ideal." He tapped Abby on the shoulder, waking her up from where she was falling asleep in her food, shivering from the aftereffects of the poison. "But they lack the coordination to do precision tasks, and being ghosts, they don't feel a need for food or sleep. They don't agree, Blue." He pointed out. "And the more they get used to me, and vice versa, the more my voice is getting lost in the crowd. If this keeps up, then soon the times when everyone is unable to fight will be the only times that we get some downtime."

Blue frowned at that. "It's getting worse?"

"A little."

"So then why not just go home? Why not just stay home until Gramps can come up with a solution?"

Red didn't answer for a few moments, and finished eating in silence as he reflected on Blue's question. "I don't want to give up. I don't want to let my life be decided for me." He held out his hand, watching it tremble slightly. "Right now, I have a handicap, and a major one. I don't want to let it beat me." Red shrugged. "That, and with Spiritomb's lack of cohesion, then chances are we'd end up somewhere outrageous anyway without even trying. I want to at least make the most of it."

Blue looked lost at that. Picking up squirtle's empty bowl, he hefted the small turtle onto his lap. "That doesn't mean that it's a good idea. I mean, I can go home too, if that'll help. We can wait. Or, I can come with you. There has to be something."

Red smiled, and recalled Abby and Pidgey. "You care. And you want to help. But I won't make you sacrifice your dreams, or try to slow you down. I want to compete with you, Blue. I want us to challenge each other, and get stronger. Not burden each other."

He picked up his empty tray and excused himself from the table. "It's okay, Blue. You'll see."

Blue just looked down at the table. "I just don't wanna lose my best friend." The boy said forlornly. "Promise that that won't happen?" He grabbed at Red's sleeve.

Red nodded back. "Cross my heart."

* * *

Red listened to the soothing chime of the healing machine. Blue had left right after breakfast to get some more training in. Spiritomb was anxious to get going, and the voices, which had faded into the background last night, were starting to pick up in volume.

"Your pokémon are fighting fit, young man!" the nurse chirped happily. "We hope to see you again soon!"

Red nodded, putting Abby and Pidgey's pokeballs away. "T-thank you." He gave a stiff bow, before Spiritomb started chattering away with command after command, ramming him into the counter a couple of times before they managed to get him away from it. Several people had to jump out of the way as he stumbled and swayed towards the door, stuttering apologies.

[timetogowhatshouldwecatchnextarewegoingtotrythegymweshouldtrainmoreupupupleftleftupnodownrightstopgogogo.] "s-sorry!" He pushed open the door, hopping down over the ledge right in front of the door.

[NOOOwhatareyoudoinggoleftleftuprightdownstopstopgrabnonoyesgrabnowwehavetotryagain!]

This was going to be another very long day.


End file.
